May 28, 2010

Ladies and Gentleman...Your 2010 National League All Stars: The Philadelphia Phillies!

MLB voting for All Stars is a joke. Last year's teams were a sham, and this year is the worst yet. Just taking a look at the standings right now, I am embarrassed by the showings of the fans this year.

Take a look at the NL Team, as it stands:

C - Yadier Molina: Good. I suppose with McCann and Jean Martin off to relatively slow seasons, Yadier is probably the best choice. Defensively, he is an excellent catcher. He picked me off while I was in high school, while playing in the Cardinal's farm system.

1B - Albert Pujols: The man is a legend, but Joey Votto has been a little bit better this season. Whoever is hotter heading into the game is deserving of the honor. However, Joey does not even place in the top 5 among AL 1B as of right now.

2B - Chase Utley: Utley is having a good season so far, but Dan Uggla (as much as I despise him) is better right now. Equal in runs scored and steals (1!), Uggla is better in HR and RBI. Chase leads in BA by about .01, not enough to get him the call over Uggla.

3B - Placido Polanco: Leading by a good 80,000 votes, Placido is the worst of them all. He is doing good, with a solid 5HR, 21 RsBI and a .306 BA, but Casey McGehee, Mark Reynolds, Jorge Cantu, David Wright, Scott Rolen and Ryan Zimmerman have all had better seasons up to this point.

SS - Jimmy Rollins: Rollins came into 2010 on fire, and then got hurt. He has 41 ABs over 14 games played.

OF - Ryan Braun, Jayson Werth, Shane Victorino: I agree with Braun and Werth. Werth is awesome, and should make the team for his beard alone. Braun is great, though .322 with 8HR and 32RsBI, he is the number 1 ranked OFer in fantasy sports (Yahoo) at this time. But Victorino? No way. The Flyin Hawaiian is off to a mediocre start at best. I could list all the OFers who are a better option, but I won't. Let's pick one at (not so) random: Andre Ethier. Guy's a freakin' god this season.

The American League isn't much better. Teixeira, barely managing to hit .210 this season will probably play 1B. No, this is not anti-Yankee, as I agree fully with Cano for 2B, as much as I hate the lackadaisical way he plays. Jeter seemingly shouldn't be SS starter, but there isn't much of a better option (maybe I'm missing someone? Oh yes, Jason Bartlett.)

What upsets my stomach is the Rangers (Sorry, Play at the Plate, BigD and others...).

Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, and most of all Taylor Teagarden have NO business going to Anaheim this July. Elvis Andrus, maybe. Nelson Cruz and Vlad: Definitely.

What it comes down to is ballot-box stuffing. Obviously Texas fans and Philadelphia fans have figured our how to manipulate the abomination that is MLB All-Star voting. It's an awful, awful system, and if MLB had any sense it would re-configure everything involving the system. 25 votes per person? Kill it. Home field advantage for World Series? Kill it. This is an exhibition game. Will the 2010 World Series participants want Mark Teixeira, Placido Polanco, Shane Victorino and Hideki Matsui playing for the advanatge? I know I sure wouldn't.

That's what happened in the 1950s, after Cincinnati Reds players were all voted onto the starting lineup. The commish at the time "adjusted" the starting lineup, and then eliminated the fan voting starting the next year.

Of course, now we have Mr. Spineless in charge, so nothing will be done (except maybe if another all-star game ends in a tie!)